HALF DOLLARS: The highest premium given for American half dollars by Robinson & Lee, No. 44 Wall Street. -- The Evening Post, New York City, October 21, 1818.Strong cartwheel luster emboldens subtle toning on both sides, pale gold and blue at the rims yielding to overall violet-gray over most surfaces and a halo of deeper gold around the central devices. The sharpness of strike is complete over both sides, displaying full centers on each star and thoroughly detailed devices. Some light lines are seen on the obverse under proper lighting conditions, but no significant marks or pre-striking issues are noted. The overdate aspect is visible under low magnification, as the top two serifs of the 7 underdigit peek out atop the final 8 like two small horns. That final 8 is about half filled, a symptom of the die state that designates this as Overton-102a, and the reverse shows a single light die clash. The obverse has been lapped, removing most evidence of the clashing, though traces are seen under the bust truncation and near the ribbon end of Libertys headband.Recession had been endemic throughout the United States since the end of the War of 1812, an economic trough that led to a remarkable expansion of lending institutions around the country. By 1818, the poor footing of many local and state banks led to tightening regulations, all too little too late to stave off what would become known as the Panic of 1819. Among the regulations passed in New York, whose banking laws tended to be more conservative than other states, particularly those in the West, was a law insisting that banks that issued paper money would suffer a significant penalty if they were not able to redeem the notes in either specie (gold or silver coins) or notes of the Bank of the United States. By this point, federal law had ensured legal tender status for Spanish-American 8 reales, but the laws according such status to fractional denominations had gone unrenewed, putting half dollars like this one in something of a special situation. Neil Carothers numismatic and economic classic Fractional Money (1930) noted, "With no gold coins or silver dollars in circulation, the half-dollar was the desirable coin for major transactions, bank reserves, and payments abroad. The coins did not circulate widely. They went from the mint to the Bank of the United States. The Bank distributed them to its own vaults, to other banks, and to brokers who exported them." These "money-brokers" became economic scapegoats in the popular press as the panic descended, so advertisements like the one cited above are fairly unusual. Robinson and Lee, a Wall Street brokerage firm, could have been purchasing the half dollars at a premium to sell to banks that needed to stay on the correct side of banking regulations or for a mercantile firm who required them for export, as American half dollars were particularly popular in the West Indies and in Asia. This export trade, and the constant motion of boxes (a more typical transportation method than kegs for silver coins) full of half dollars from bank to bank, has ensured that modern collectors have a surfeit of lightly circulated Capped Bust half dollars to choose from, but very few real gems.The D. Brent Pogue Overton-102a is one of the finest examples of this popular overdate variety extant. The Small 8 1818/7 overdate is seen on only Overtons Obverse 2, a die employed exclusively in the Overton-102 die marriage. The Eliasberg example of this variety is graded MS-63 (PCGS) and now resides in a major Iowa cabinet. This specimen has long been carried near the top of the Herrman listings for the variety, though it has not had an auction appearance in 27 years. PCGS has never graded a finer 1818/7 Small 8 half dollar.
